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INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Fond du Lac
RBC questions
constitutionality of
BIA election
page 5
MCT's Secretarial Election
for Amendments to
Constitution did not pass
page 4
The "Buck"
stops here
page 4
Response to
Leech Lake
pressrelease
page 4
Education for
Indian children
was - AND IS
-essential
page 4
Tragedy in White Earth Boy dies
when sled goes onto highway
By Nathan Bowe
nbowe@dlnewspapers.com
When a sledding accident took
the life of an 11-year-old White
Earth boy Saturday afternoon, the
world didn't lose just anybody.
It lost a quiet, respectful kid
who loved being outside, liked
dancing at powwows, played
football with the fifth- and sixth-
graders at Waubun, and relished
cherry lollipops with bubble gum
in the middle.
Brennen "Bear Man" Kier
was given the lollipops by Joe
Fairbanks, a boy his age with
Down's syndrome, who Brennen
befriended.
"When he took to Joe, it amazed
me," said Joe's mother, Linda
Bellcourt. "My little boy is a
Down's boy. There were some
who thought if they sat by him,
they'd catch what he had — it
doesn't work that way, Down's
is in your blood — but Brennen
always stood up for him. He protected him."
The two danced at powwows
together, and while Joe usually
carries a bag of suckers to give
out to people, Brennen was one of
the few who got to take his pick
of flavors.
Brennen died in St. Mary's
Regional Health Center late Saturday afternoon, after his plastic
sled went onto County Road 34
and he was hit by a pickup truck,
just outside the village of White
Earth.
The unfortunate driver was
Nels Mortenson, 68, of Ogema,
who was on his way to a birthday
party in his honor.
The hilly road was icy, according to Becker County Sheriff's
Investigator John Sieling, and
preliminary tests show the driver
had not been drinking. Criminal
charges are not expected, but the
State Patrol is reconstructing the
Brennen "Bear Man" Kier
accident and a full blood test is
being conducted, he said.
The accident occurred at the
base of a fairly steep hill below the "East Projects" housing
area.
"A lot of kids that live in those
houses seem to use those hills for
sliding," Sieling said. "I've seen
kids sliding on that hill before,
TRAGEDY to page 6
New Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig superintendent, Carol Aenne
The new Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig
superintendent, Carol Aenne
grew up by the power dam, east
of Bemidji. Carol graduated from
Bemidji High School and furthered her education at Bemidji
State University. She received
both her Bachelor of Science and
her Master's in English Education
at Bemidji State University also.
Carol received her Administrative
License, (K-12 Principal and Superintendent) through a partnership between Bemdji State and
St. Thomas.
Carol has worked a total of
thirteen years at Red Lake High
School; some of those years during the 70's and 80's. After leaving
Red Lake in 1987 she did consultant work at the Red School House
and Pine Point. Carol completed
Carol Aenne
her Admionistrative Internship at
the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School
in 1990. She also taught in community colleges in the Twin Cities area. Carol has held principal
positions at Grand Marais School
District, Dawson-Boyd, Mt. Iron-
Buhl and Clearbrook-Gonvick.
Carol returned to the Red Lake
School District where she was the
Assistant Middle School Principal, followed by four years of
being promoted to Assistant to the
Superintendent.
Carol has one daughter
Kerri,son-in-law Jeremiah and
two grandchildren, Ayana and
Jade, who reside in the LaPorte
area.
Her hobbies and interests are
reading, writing, photography,
golf, hunting, fishing, and camping. Carol also loves to travel.
Carol enjoys the woods and is
living in a log cabin on Whitefish
Lake.
We wish Carol the best in her
new position and welcome her to
our family at the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-
Shig School!
Will dialogue lead to action
By Anne M. Dunn
Cass Lake, MN - About 300
people gathered to focus on issues
of alcohol, drugs, gangs, violence
and the recent homicides that
have so deeply affected The People of Leech Lake. The gathering
was hosted by the Leech Lake
Reservation Business Committee
(LLRBC) at the Palace Casino,
Wednesday, November 30.
Elected tribal officials were
there with LL department heads,
law enforcement representatives,
educators, State Representative
Frank Moe and Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch. Irene
Folstrom facilitated the event and
also announced that she is planning to run for state senate.
George Goggleye, Sr., urged
everyone to work together toward
a solution to the growing violence
at Leech Lake. He sees that so
lution composed of Anishinabe
culture and tradition joined with
Christian beliefs and values. He
urged people to try to live by the
golden rule, which is Do unto
others as you would have others
do unto you.
"This can be the beginning of
change," he said, "and taking the
right direction."
He led the group in an opening
prayer.
LL Tribal Chairman George
Goggleye, Jr., said drugs and alcohol were involved in the recent
"rash of deaths" that has affected
so many families.
"Blame belongs to all of us," he
said. "We let this happen."
Goggleye also said he appreciated those who had come to the
gathering and said that the RBC
had passed several resolutions
aimed at protecting The People.
Grand Portage Chairman [also
Minnesota Chippewa Tribal
Chairman] Norman Deschampe
was unable to attend but had
prepared a letter which indicated
that tribal leaders should work
together to overcome the influence of alcohol, drugs, violence
and gang activities.
Many of the speakers focused
on youth. Cass Lake Boys & Girls
Club Unit Director, Rhonda Conn
said, "Kids need (positive) role
models."
Joanie Johnson, Walker Unit
Director, said that kids need and
want special time with a grown-up
and urged adults to express their
appreciation of the unique gifts,
talents, abilities and achievements
of youth. She also said young
people need to be reminded when
their conduct is inappropriate.
Three members of the Boys &
Girls Club also spoke.
ACTION to page 5
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
Scientists thank Alaska villagers
for role in bird flu study
By Rachel D'oro
Associated Press
BREVIG MISSION, Alaska
- Two white wooden crosses
stand unwavering in this wind-
scrubbed village at the edge of the
Bering Sea, marking a mass grave
that holds the remains of dozens
of people who died in pandemic
nearly 90 years ago, all but wiping out the community.
A group of scientists visited
the grave this week, huddling
against biting winds that plunged
temperatures to 20 below zero,
to commemorate the key role
the tiny Inupiat Eskimo village
of Brevig Mission played in a
groundbreaking study of the 1918
Spanish flu that killed millions
around the world.
Before visiting the grave, researchers told villagers gathered
at the local school that science
could someday gain a better un
derstanding of modern strains of
bird flu and the threat it poses to
people _ and it would be the result
of tissue samples preserved in the
permafrost here.
This crucial progress was possible only because of the villagers, said retired pathologist Johan
Hultin, who exhumed flu victims
in 1951 and 1997.
"Without your permission to
let me find the right specimen,
nothing would have happened,"
Hultin told the crowd lining the
bleachers in the school gymnasium Tuesday. "Thank you so
much."
Joining him was Jeffery
Taubenberger, a pathologist at the
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and one of the researchers
who helped reconstruct the 1918
flu virus earlier this year.
Taubenberger was studying the
remains of World War I.soldiers
who died in the epidemic. Lung
tissue samples from the Inupiat
villagers later submitted by Hultin gave scientists missing gene
segments.
vvWhat happened in 1918
was one of the worst things
that has happened on earth,"
Taubenberger said. "Nothing can
erase the great tragedy of all the
people who died. But if we can
learn something about the virus,
it's a hope that it won't happen
again."
The pandemic killed more than
50 million people worldwide,
by some estimates. Here, the flu
claimed 72 of the 80 villagers in
a span of five days. Today about
300 people live in the village,
located about 65 miles northwest
of Nome.
Hultin was a young microbiology graduate student when
he first collected tissue samples
in 1951 after approval by tribal
leaders. Assisted by colleagues,
BIRD FLU to page 5
NOTICE
A typographical error was made by
the Independent School District No.
309 on their Referendum Revenue
Authorization ballot. The ballot
states that taxes would first be
levied in 2006. The ballot should
read that taxes would be levied in
2005. The Referendum Revenue
Authorization should have read:
The board of Independent School
District No. 309, Park Rapids Area
Schools has proposed to increase
its general education revenue by
$37. per resident marginal cost
pupil unit. The additional revenue
will be used to finance school
operations and the property tax
portion thereof will require an
estimated referendum tax rate
of approximately .07162 percent
of the referendum market value
of the school district for taxes
payable in 2005, the first year
it is to be levied. The proposed
referendum revenue authorization
would be applicable for seven (7)
years unless otherwise revoked or
reduced as provided by law."
Please be aware of this notice as
you cast your ballot.
This notice was approved by the
District Court in Hubbard and
Becker County on October 7,2004.
Grijalva celebrates
win for tribes
By BILLY HOUSE
The Arizona Republic
PHOENIX - The headline in
August read: "Tribes getting land
back after 90 years."
For the people of the Colorado River Indian Tribes, whose
reservation is 189 miles west
of Phoenix, the return of their
ancestral La Paz lands would be
celebrated with a dedication of
blessings, speeches and dances
at a remote desert site.
For Rep. Raul Grijalva, a two-
term Democrat from Tucson,
the first celebration came three
weeks earlier when his bill to
GRIJALVA to page 6
web page: www.press-on.net
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication. Copyright, Native American Press, 2005
Founded in 1988
Volume 18 Issue 25
December 9, 2005
Anishinabeg Ogichida
Able Company 2-136 CAB (Combined Arms Battalion) - Deployed Oct. 1, 2005, to Camp Shelby,
Mississippi. Depart for Iraq March 2006. Front row left to right: Spc. Donald DeGroat, Jr., 22,
White Earth. Wife Anna, son Donald III, expecting baby Dec. 1 (HQ PLT)—Sgt. Donovan Staples,
29, Leech Lake. Wife Dawn, sons Damon and Deacon; daughter Darian. Second Iraq tour (1st
PLT)—PFC Sam Mason, 33, White Earth. Wife Liza, son Caden (2nd PLT) Back row left to right:
PFC Nicholas Sumner, 22, Red Lake (1st PLT), PV2 Eric Alger, 19, Leech Lake (1st PLT), Sgt. Brent
Steinmetz, 23, White Earth. Wife Tabi, daughter Mackenzie (2nd PLT)
From Leech Lake, a cry to
ensure a future
By Larry Oakes
Star Tribune of Minneapolis
CASS LAKE, Minn. - Like
citizens of a war-torn country,
they came together: hundreds
of people from this little community on the Leech Lake
Indian Reservation, pleading
once more for an end to the
killing.
An Ojibwe pipe carrier who
performs healing ceremonies,
Kenn Mitchell came to the
front of the room where they
gathered at the Palace Casino,
asked the spirits for guidance
and then held up a $20 bill.
Mitchell's son and grandson are serving decades-long
sentences for the 2002 beating
death _ on Cass Lake's main
street _ of Louie Bisson, a
blind albino man.
"All day we've listened to
people talk," Mitchell said,
"and not once has somebody
said, 'Here is what I'm going
to do.'"
The $20, he said, was to start
a reward fund to catch the kill
ers of Brandon Humphrey, 17, and
Michael Littlewolf, 20, this fall.
"I'll contribute $100!" someone yelled. A line formed, and,
when they were done, a basket
contained $970.
That was the reservation's latest expression of hope that it can
pull itself from the whirlpool of
poverty, chemical abuse, gangs
and violence that have given it _
despite its isolation and beauty _
a serious crime rate that is consistently among the state's worst.
Leech Lake Tribal Chairman
George Goggleye hosted the gathering last week after announcing
that he was declaring war on what
he called a rising tide of alcohol
abuse, drug use, lawlessness and
tragic death, a tide spiked by a
half-dozen senseless killings this
fall alone.
Most often, young adults were
involved.
"The youth are the future of
our people," Goggleye said with
tears in his eyes. "If we don't do
FUTURE to page 3
High court favors taxes on fuel
on Indian reservations
By Toni Locy
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled
that states have the power to tax
fuel sold on Indian reservations.
In a 7-2 vote, the high court
said Kansas can tax distributors who sell fuel at an Indian-owned and operated gas
station near the Prairie Band
Potawatomi tribe's casino.
Most of the Nation Station's
fuel customers are patrons
of the casino, which is 15
miles north of Topeka, Kan.
Writing for the majority,
Justice Clarence Thomas said
the Denver-based 10th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals was
wrong in ruling that the tax
violated tribal sovereignty.
"Kansas law makes clear
that it is the distributor, rather
than the retailer, that is liable
to pay the motor fuel tax,"
Thomas wrote. "While the
distributors are 'entitled' to
pass along the cost of the tax
to downstream purchasers ...
they are not required to do so."
North Dakota was among 13
states supporting Kansas in the
case. North Dakota's Supreme
Court in February dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block the state
from collecting state fuel taxes
from American Indians who buy
gasoline on their own reservations.
Attorney General Wayne
Stenehjem said the Legislature ordered his office and the
state Tax Department to negotiate with tribes over the issue.
"We have been doing that,"
he said. The attorney general
said he had not had a chance to
study Tuesday's ruling to gauge
its impact on those negotiations.
In the Kansas case, the tribe
had argued that it already collects
taxes on fuel to pay for maintaining the reservation's roads, which
are among the worst in the nation.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg
and Anthony M. Kennedy dissented, arguing that the fuel is "effectively double-taxed" and may
force the tribe's gas station to operate at a deficit or go out of business.
Ginsburg also said Kansas
is not gaining much through
the tax - about $300,000 annually. But, in doing so, she
wrote, the state is preventing the
tribe from imposing its own tax.
The case is Wagnon v. Prairie
Band Potawatomi Nation, 04-631.
Indians bring
dispute back to
Congress
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY - Opponents
in the dispute over Indian trust
money will head to Capitol Hill
again this week, as lawmakers
continue to press for a resolution
to the long-running lawsuit.
While hopeful that Congress
will eventually play a meaningful
role, an attorney for the Indians in
the class-action suit said the talk
so far hasn't translated into action,
The Oklahoman reported from its
Washington bureau.
"It's just hearing after hearing
after hearing and not a whole lot
happens," Keith Harper, an attorney with the Native American
Rights Fund, said.
Republican and Democratic
leaders of the House Resources
Committee have introduced legislation similar to a bill authored
in the Senate that could serve as
a blueprint for a settlement. But
it's missing a magic number_ the
settlement offer from the government.
During the summer, some ofthe
Indian plaintiffs in the case, led
by Elouise Cobell, laid out their
50 principles for a fair settlement
and said they would accept $27.5
billion. The number was rejected
by Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona,
chairman of the Indian Affairs
Committee.
The House Resources Committee, which has held numerous
hearings on the Indian trust case,
has scheduled another for Thursday to discuss a settlement.
"As the committee moves this
bill through the process, works
with members of Congress and
conducts ongoing discussions
with Indian Country, we hope to
shape this into the most equitable
solution for all parties," Rep.
Richard Pombo, R-Calif., chairman ofthe committee, said of his
legislation.
The lawsuit was filed in 1996 in
federal district court by Cobell, of
Montana, who is a member ofthe
Blackfeet Tribe, and other Indian
plaintiffs.
The suit claimed the government failed to meet its legal obligation in managing thousands of
individual Indian trust accounts
that hold the proceeds from leases
on Indian land for drilling, grazing and other uses. The trust
system dates to 1887.
A U.S. district judge agreed
INDIANS to page 3
UMM|HMG|H

Content and images in this collection may be reproduced and used freely without written permission only for educational purposes. Any other use requires the express written consent of Bemidji State University and the Associated Press. All uses require an

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- ■ ::■■.■■-.
■mm
INDEX
NEWS AROUND INDIAN COUNTRY 2
NEWS BRIEFS 3
COMMENTARY/EDITORIALS 4
CLASSIFIEDS 7
Fond du Lac
RBC questions
constitutionality of
BIA election
page 5
MCT's Secretarial Election
for Amendments to
Constitution did not pass
page 4
The "Buck"
stops here
page 4
Response to
Leech Lake
pressrelease
page 4
Education for
Indian children
was - AND IS
-essential
page 4
Tragedy in White Earth Boy dies
when sled goes onto highway
By Nathan Bowe
nbowe@dlnewspapers.com
When a sledding accident took
the life of an 11-year-old White
Earth boy Saturday afternoon, the
world didn't lose just anybody.
It lost a quiet, respectful kid
who loved being outside, liked
dancing at powwows, played
football with the fifth- and sixth-
graders at Waubun, and relished
cherry lollipops with bubble gum
in the middle.
Brennen "Bear Man" Kier
was given the lollipops by Joe
Fairbanks, a boy his age with
Down's syndrome, who Brennen
befriended.
"When he took to Joe, it amazed
me," said Joe's mother, Linda
Bellcourt. "My little boy is a
Down's boy. There were some
who thought if they sat by him,
they'd catch what he had — it
doesn't work that way, Down's
is in your blood — but Brennen
always stood up for him. He protected him."
The two danced at powwows
together, and while Joe usually
carries a bag of suckers to give
out to people, Brennen was one of
the few who got to take his pick
of flavors.
Brennen died in St. Mary's
Regional Health Center late Saturday afternoon, after his plastic
sled went onto County Road 34
and he was hit by a pickup truck,
just outside the village of White
Earth.
The unfortunate driver was
Nels Mortenson, 68, of Ogema,
who was on his way to a birthday
party in his honor.
The hilly road was icy, according to Becker County Sheriff's
Investigator John Sieling, and
preliminary tests show the driver
had not been drinking. Criminal
charges are not expected, but the
State Patrol is reconstructing the
Brennen "Bear Man" Kier
accident and a full blood test is
being conducted, he said.
The accident occurred at the
base of a fairly steep hill below the "East Projects" housing
area.
"A lot of kids that live in those
houses seem to use those hills for
sliding," Sieling said. "I've seen
kids sliding on that hill before,
TRAGEDY to page 6
New Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig superintendent, Carol Aenne
The new Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig
superintendent, Carol Aenne
grew up by the power dam, east
of Bemidji. Carol graduated from
Bemidji High School and furthered her education at Bemidji
State University. She received
both her Bachelor of Science and
her Master's in English Education
at Bemidji State University also.
Carol received her Administrative
License, (K-12 Principal and Superintendent) through a partnership between Bemdji State and
St. Thomas.
Carol has worked a total of
thirteen years at Red Lake High
School; some of those years during the 70's and 80's. After leaving
Red Lake in 1987 she did consultant work at the Red School House
and Pine Point. Carol completed
Carol Aenne
her Admionistrative Internship at
the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School
in 1990. She also taught in community colleges in the Twin Cities area. Carol has held principal
positions at Grand Marais School
District, Dawson-Boyd, Mt. Iron-
Buhl and Clearbrook-Gonvick.
Carol returned to the Red Lake
School District where she was the
Assistant Middle School Principal, followed by four years of
being promoted to Assistant to the
Superintendent.
Carol has one daughter
Kerri,son-in-law Jeremiah and
two grandchildren, Ayana and
Jade, who reside in the LaPorte
area.
Her hobbies and interests are
reading, writing, photography,
golf, hunting, fishing, and camping. Carol also loves to travel.
Carol enjoys the woods and is
living in a log cabin on Whitefish
Lake.
We wish Carol the best in her
new position and welcome her to
our family at the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-
Shig School!
Will dialogue lead to action
By Anne M. Dunn
Cass Lake, MN - About 300
people gathered to focus on issues
of alcohol, drugs, gangs, violence
and the recent homicides that
have so deeply affected The People of Leech Lake. The gathering
was hosted by the Leech Lake
Reservation Business Committee
(LLRBC) at the Palace Casino,
Wednesday, November 30.
Elected tribal officials were
there with LL department heads,
law enforcement representatives,
educators, State Representative
Frank Moe and Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch. Irene
Folstrom facilitated the event and
also announced that she is planning to run for state senate.
George Goggleye, Sr., urged
everyone to work together toward
a solution to the growing violence
at Leech Lake. He sees that so
lution composed of Anishinabe
culture and tradition joined with
Christian beliefs and values. He
urged people to try to live by the
golden rule, which is Do unto
others as you would have others
do unto you.
"This can be the beginning of
change," he said, "and taking the
right direction."
He led the group in an opening
prayer.
LL Tribal Chairman George
Goggleye, Jr., said drugs and alcohol were involved in the recent
"rash of deaths" that has affected
so many families.
"Blame belongs to all of us," he
said. "We let this happen."
Goggleye also said he appreciated those who had come to the
gathering and said that the RBC
had passed several resolutions
aimed at protecting The People.
Grand Portage Chairman [also
Minnesota Chippewa Tribal
Chairman] Norman Deschampe
was unable to attend but had
prepared a letter which indicated
that tribal leaders should work
together to overcome the influence of alcohol, drugs, violence
and gang activities.
Many of the speakers focused
on youth. Cass Lake Boys & Girls
Club Unit Director, Rhonda Conn
said, "Kids need (positive) role
models."
Joanie Johnson, Walker Unit
Director, said that kids need and
want special time with a grown-up
and urged adults to express their
appreciation of the unique gifts,
talents, abilities and achievements
of youth. She also said young
people need to be reminded when
their conduct is inappropriate.
Three members of the Boys &
Girls Club also spoke.
ACTION to page 5
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
Scientists thank Alaska villagers
for role in bird flu study
By Rachel D'oro
Associated Press
BREVIG MISSION, Alaska
- Two white wooden crosses
stand unwavering in this wind-
scrubbed village at the edge of the
Bering Sea, marking a mass grave
that holds the remains of dozens
of people who died in pandemic
nearly 90 years ago, all but wiping out the community.
A group of scientists visited
the grave this week, huddling
against biting winds that plunged
temperatures to 20 below zero,
to commemorate the key role
the tiny Inupiat Eskimo village
of Brevig Mission played in a
groundbreaking study of the 1918
Spanish flu that killed millions
around the world.
Before visiting the grave, researchers told villagers gathered
at the local school that science
could someday gain a better un
derstanding of modern strains of
bird flu and the threat it poses to
people _ and it would be the result
of tissue samples preserved in the
permafrost here.
This crucial progress was possible only because of the villagers, said retired pathologist Johan
Hultin, who exhumed flu victims
in 1951 and 1997.
"Without your permission to
let me find the right specimen,
nothing would have happened,"
Hultin told the crowd lining the
bleachers in the school gymnasium Tuesday. "Thank you so
much."
Joining him was Jeffery
Taubenberger, a pathologist at the
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and one of the researchers
who helped reconstruct the 1918
flu virus earlier this year.
Taubenberger was studying the
remains of World War I.soldiers
who died in the epidemic. Lung
tissue samples from the Inupiat
villagers later submitted by Hultin gave scientists missing gene
segments.
vvWhat happened in 1918
was one of the worst things
that has happened on earth,"
Taubenberger said. "Nothing can
erase the great tragedy of all the
people who died. But if we can
learn something about the virus,
it's a hope that it won't happen
again."
The pandemic killed more than
50 million people worldwide,
by some estimates. Here, the flu
claimed 72 of the 80 villagers in
a span of five days. Today about
300 people live in the village,
located about 65 miles northwest
of Nome.
Hultin was a young microbiology graduate student when
he first collected tissue samples
in 1951 after approval by tribal
leaders. Assisted by colleagues,
BIRD FLU to page 5
NOTICE
A typographical error was made by
the Independent School District No.
309 on their Referendum Revenue
Authorization ballot. The ballot
states that taxes would first be
levied in 2006. The ballot should
read that taxes would be levied in
2005. The Referendum Revenue
Authorization should have read:
The board of Independent School
District No. 309, Park Rapids Area
Schools has proposed to increase
its general education revenue by
$37. per resident marginal cost
pupil unit. The additional revenue
will be used to finance school
operations and the property tax
portion thereof will require an
estimated referendum tax rate
of approximately .07162 percent
of the referendum market value
of the school district for taxes
payable in 2005, the first year
it is to be levied. The proposed
referendum revenue authorization
would be applicable for seven (7)
years unless otherwise revoked or
reduced as provided by law."
Please be aware of this notice as
you cast your ballot.
This notice was approved by the
District Court in Hubbard and
Becker County on October 7,2004.
Grijalva celebrates
win for tribes
By BILLY HOUSE
The Arizona Republic
PHOENIX - The headline in
August read: "Tribes getting land
back after 90 years."
For the people of the Colorado River Indian Tribes, whose
reservation is 189 miles west
of Phoenix, the return of their
ancestral La Paz lands would be
celebrated with a dedication of
blessings, speeches and dances
at a remote desert site.
For Rep. Raul Grijalva, a two-
term Democrat from Tucson,
the first celebration came three
weeks earlier when his bill to
GRIJALVA to page 6
web page: www.press-on.net
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
A weekly publication. Copyright, Native American Press, 2005
Founded in 1988
Volume 18 Issue 25
December 9, 2005
Anishinabeg Ogichida
Able Company 2-136 CAB (Combined Arms Battalion) - Deployed Oct. 1, 2005, to Camp Shelby,
Mississippi. Depart for Iraq March 2006. Front row left to right: Spc. Donald DeGroat, Jr., 22,
White Earth. Wife Anna, son Donald III, expecting baby Dec. 1 (HQ PLT)—Sgt. Donovan Staples,
29, Leech Lake. Wife Dawn, sons Damon and Deacon; daughter Darian. Second Iraq tour (1st
PLT)—PFC Sam Mason, 33, White Earth. Wife Liza, son Caden (2nd PLT) Back row left to right:
PFC Nicholas Sumner, 22, Red Lake (1st PLT), PV2 Eric Alger, 19, Leech Lake (1st PLT), Sgt. Brent
Steinmetz, 23, White Earth. Wife Tabi, daughter Mackenzie (2nd PLT)
From Leech Lake, a cry to
ensure a future
By Larry Oakes
Star Tribune of Minneapolis
CASS LAKE, Minn. - Like
citizens of a war-torn country,
they came together: hundreds
of people from this little community on the Leech Lake
Indian Reservation, pleading
once more for an end to the
killing.
An Ojibwe pipe carrier who
performs healing ceremonies,
Kenn Mitchell came to the
front of the room where they
gathered at the Palace Casino,
asked the spirits for guidance
and then held up a $20 bill.
Mitchell's son and grandson are serving decades-long
sentences for the 2002 beating
death _ on Cass Lake's main
street _ of Louie Bisson, a
blind albino man.
"All day we've listened to
people talk," Mitchell said,
"and not once has somebody
said, 'Here is what I'm going
to do.'"
The $20, he said, was to start
a reward fund to catch the kill
ers of Brandon Humphrey, 17, and
Michael Littlewolf, 20, this fall.
"I'll contribute $100!" someone yelled. A line formed, and,
when they were done, a basket
contained $970.
That was the reservation's latest expression of hope that it can
pull itself from the whirlpool of
poverty, chemical abuse, gangs
and violence that have given it _
despite its isolation and beauty _
a serious crime rate that is consistently among the state's worst.
Leech Lake Tribal Chairman
George Goggleye hosted the gathering last week after announcing
that he was declaring war on what
he called a rising tide of alcohol
abuse, drug use, lawlessness and
tragic death, a tide spiked by a
half-dozen senseless killings this
fall alone.
Most often, young adults were
involved.
"The youth are the future of
our people," Goggleye said with
tears in his eyes. "If we don't do
FUTURE to page 3
High court favors taxes on fuel
on Indian reservations
By Toni Locy
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled
that states have the power to tax
fuel sold on Indian reservations.
In a 7-2 vote, the high court
said Kansas can tax distributors who sell fuel at an Indian-owned and operated gas
station near the Prairie Band
Potawatomi tribe's casino.
Most of the Nation Station's
fuel customers are patrons
of the casino, which is 15
miles north of Topeka, Kan.
Writing for the majority,
Justice Clarence Thomas said
the Denver-based 10th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals was
wrong in ruling that the tax
violated tribal sovereignty.
"Kansas law makes clear
that it is the distributor, rather
than the retailer, that is liable
to pay the motor fuel tax,"
Thomas wrote. "While the
distributors are 'entitled' to
pass along the cost of the tax
to downstream purchasers ...
they are not required to do so."
North Dakota was among 13
states supporting Kansas in the
case. North Dakota's Supreme
Court in February dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block the state
from collecting state fuel taxes
from American Indians who buy
gasoline on their own reservations.
Attorney General Wayne
Stenehjem said the Legislature ordered his office and the
state Tax Department to negotiate with tribes over the issue.
"We have been doing that,"
he said. The attorney general
said he had not had a chance to
study Tuesday's ruling to gauge
its impact on those negotiations.
In the Kansas case, the tribe
had argued that it already collects
taxes on fuel to pay for maintaining the reservation's roads, which
are among the worst in the nation.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg
and Anthony M. Kennedy dissented, arguing that the fuel is "effectively double-taxed" and may
force the tribe's gas station to operate at a deficit or go out of business.
Ginsburg also said Kansas
is not gaining much through
the tax - about $300,000 annually. But, in doing so, she
wrote, the state is preventing the
tribe from imposing its own tax.
The case is Wagnon v. Prairie
Band Potawatomi Nation, 04-631.
Indians bring
dispute back to
Congress
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY - Opponents
in the dispute over Indian trust
money will head to Capitol Hill
again this week, as lawmakers
continue to press for a resolution
to the long-running lawsuit.
While hopeful that Congress
will eventually play a meaningful
role, an attorney for the Indians in
the class-action suit said the talk
so far hasn't translated into action,
The Oklahoman reported from its
Washington bureau.
"It's just hearing after hearing
after hearing and not a whole lot
happens," Keith Harper, an attorney with the Native American
Rights Fund, said.
Republican and Democratic
leaders of the House Resources
Committee have introduced legislation similar to a bill authored
in the Senate that could serve as
a blueprint for a settlement. But
it's missing a magic number_ the
settlement offer from the government.
During the summer, some ofthe
Indian plaintiffs in the case, led
by Elouise Cobell, laid out their
50 principles for a fair settlement
and said they would accept $27.5
billion. The number was rejected
by Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona,
chairman of the Indian Affairs
Committee.
The House Resources Committee, which has held numerous
hearings on the Indian trust case,
has scheduled another for Thursday to discuss a settlement.
"As the committee moves this
bill through the process, works
with members of Congress and
conducts ongoing discussions
with Indian Country, we hope to
shape this into the most equitable
solution for all parties," Rep.
Richard Pombo, R-Calif., chairman ofthe committee, said of his
legislation.
The lawsuit was filed in 1996 in
federal district court by Cobell, of
Montana, who is a member ofthe
Blackfeet Tribe, and other Indian
plaintiffs.
The suit claimed the government failed to meet its legal obligation in managing thousands of
individual Indian trust accounts
that hold the proceeds from leases
on Indian land for drilling, grazing and other uses. The trust
system dates to 1887.
A U.S. district judge agreed
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